SUFFOCATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does suffocation mean? 

• SUFFOCATION (noun)
  The noun SUFFOCATION has 2 senses:

1. killing by depriving of oxygen

2. the condition of being deprived of oxygen (as by having breathing stopped)

  Familiarity information: SUFFOCATION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUFFOCATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Killing by depriving of oxygen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

asphyxiation; suffocation

Hypernyms ("suffocation" is a kind of...):

kill; killing; putting to death (the act of terminating a life)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "suffocation"):

choking; strangling; strangulation; throttling (the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe)

Derivation:

suffocate (be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen)

suffocate (deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The condition of being deprived of oxygen (as by having breathing stopped)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

asphyxiation; suffocation

Context example:

asphyxiation is sometimes used as a form of torture

Hypernyms ("suffocation" is a kind of...):

hypoxia (oxygen deficiency causing a very strong drive to correct the deficiency)

Derivation:

suffocate (struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake)

suffocate (impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of)

 Context examples 

The suffocation he experienced was like the pang of death.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

What with actual suffocation, and what with the poisonous fumes of the chloroform, the Lady Frances seemed to have passed the last point of recall.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The episodes may be accompanied by coughing, a feeling of suffocation, a cold sweat, and tachycardia.

(Dyspnea Paroxysmal Nocturnal, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

His eyes were closed, and he was apparently unconscious; but his mouth was wide open, his breast, heaving as though from suffocation as he laboured noisily for breath.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Mr. Peggotty pointed to a certain paragraph in the newspaper, where I read aloud as follows, from the Port Middlebay Times: The public dinner to our distinguished fellow-colonist and townsman, WILKINS MICAWBER, ESQUIRE, Port Middlebay District Magistrate, came off yesterday in the large room of the Hotel, which was crowded to suffocation.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)